RAIZ INVEST: ANZ shares hit 52-week high despite investigation

One of Australia’s Big Four banks has seen its shares hit a 52-week high despite an investigation into its bond trades.

ANZ ($ANZ) shares hit a 52-week high on Wednesday, up 16 per cent in 2024 to $30.10 per share despite a week plagued by bad news.

Last Thursday the bank admitted to the Australian Office of Financial Management that its government bond figures had been incorrect. It wasn’t just by a small number, ANZ said it overstated the value of the government bonds it traded by over $50B in 12 months. There is no word yet on where an investigation into these figures could lead, but the regulator has taken action in the past for similar conduct.

Despite this, ANZ saw a 594 per cent increase in shares traded over the past seven days on Raiz. There was some good news for the group, as ANZ has been approved to acquire Suncorp Bank from the regulator which should be completed soon and will help the company grow its market position. Already broker UBS has forecast profit growth in FY25, FY26 and FY27 due to the bank’s enlarged scale after the deal.

Smashing its way into the top 5 for Raiz investors this week with a 226% increase in shares traded was Mirvac Group ($MGR). This company ebbs and flows a lot amongst Raiz investors, as last week it only managed 805 shares traded but the week prior was up at 2,143 shares traded.

It’s been a decent week for the company’s share price, with it being in the top 10 of the biggest percentage winners of the ASX300 at the start of the week. The company hasn’t provided a trading update since June but did update its substantial holdings which included asset manager State Street. Mirvac Group has always been popular with institutional owners and the update just further showed confidence in the company.

The bronze medal for shares traded this week was AGL Energy ($AGL) which had a 108 per cent increase in shares traded over the last seven days. Energy is at the forefront of the news cycle and AGL is a major player in the sector. It has remained popular with Raiz investors despite some minor dips over the course of the month.

The laggard was Qantas ($QAN) which saw a 61 per cent decrease in shares traded. However last week it was the top traded stock following an over 200 per cent increase so a decrease is almost to be expected.

Trading in the top 10 was muted however over the week, with a 10 per cent decrease in shares traded. However last week was a massive week, up 20 per cent on the week prior, so a 10 per cent decrease may just be traders returning to a sense of normality.

The ETF market picked up the slack though, with a 57 per cent increase in units traded with every ETF over the top 10 seeing a double digit boost. The largest of which belonged to the iShares Core Composite Bond ETF ($IAF) which was 99 per cent and Betashares Australian High Interest Cash ETF ($AAA) with 98 per cent.

The smallest increase was the Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF ($NDQ) with a 14 per cent increase in units traded. The Nasdaq 100 has seen a slip over the last week as chipmakers crumbled on China curbs, but the tech index is famously volatile so it’s very much a ‘time in the market, not timing the market’ situation.

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Raiz Invest Australia Limited – Authorised Representative of AFSL 434776. The Raiz Invest Australia Fund is issued in Australia by Instreet Investment Limited (ACN 128 813 016 AFSL 434776) a subsidiary of Raiz Invest Limited and promoted by Raiz Invest Australia Limited (ACN 604 402 815). PDS and TMD are available on the Raiz Invest website and App. You should read and consider those documents before deciding whether, or not, to acquire and continue to hold interests in the product.